The present invention relates to a system for establishing an information network on an aircraft. More specifically, the present invention relates to a microserver adapter configured to connect to an avionics box or subsystem controller on the aircraft to enable communications between the avionics box and other avionics boxes on the aircraft using existing power wires alone or in combination with wired and/or wireless data networks.
An onboard microserver system may be used to create a network centric aircraft maintenance and management architecture for an aircraft, as well as other types of vehicles. The onboard microserver enables local and remote communications to and from the avionics boxes or subsystem controllers on the aircraft using standard Internet communications protocols. Another capability of the microserver architecture is to enable network communication between the various avionics boxes and subsystem controllers on the aircraft.
The onboard microserver system may be easily integrated into a design for a new aircraft or it may be easily installed on a modern aircraft that includes an integrated databus. However, a challenge exists in integrating the microserver architecture into an older aircraft that contains a primitive databus, or no databus at all. Without an integrated communications system, it may be difficult to connect the various avionics boxes and subsystem controllers so that they are able to communicate with one another.